Snakes
by liian risera
Summary: Hisagi has a crush on Sunsun. Sunsun thinks Hisagi is an idiot. But when Hisagi sends Sunsun a letter, it seems that both of their opinions are going to change. AU ShuuSun...fluff?


Tia Sunsun loved snakes.

There were plenty of reasons--their lethal grace and beauty captivated her. They were calm and patient. They were willing to wait for as long as need be, but when the time came, they struck fast and they struck hard. They proved that quiet individuals could be strong at the same time. Yes, snakes fascinated Sunsun, and she liked them very much.

Her sisters did not share her opinion (they rarely did). Mila-Rose and Apache were (nearly) polar opposites of their more soft-spoken sibling--they were loud and annoying and immature and possibly even stupid. Years ago, they had once questioned her choice of "favorite animal" ("What!? Snakes are creepy! Weirdo.") and ten minutes later had run screaming into Halibel's arms, claiming that a "ginormous python" had attempted to eat them. Halibel simply threw an exasperated warning glance at Sunsun, while the girl blinked serenely and smiled back. Later, when their guardian left to run some errands, she turned to her still-glaring sisters.

"That wasn't a _python_, it was an anaconda, you sillies."

-

Shuuhei Hisagi did _not _like snakes.

Of course, he would rather die than admit that now that he was a pretty well-known and respected guy, but nothing terrified him more than snakes. In his mind, they were slimy and scaly and always the evil character in stories (the fear had increased tenfold when Iba and some others from their "Guy's Only" Club had dragged him off to watch "Anaconda" and all of its sequels). He also blamed them for the loss of his pet rabbit (this was actually the doing of Abarai Renji and his curiosity of whether the rodent would get along with his pet known only as "Zabimaru". The result was negative, unfortunately) but then again it probably wouldn't have done much for his manly image, owning a pet bunny.

-

Hisagi was in love with Sunsun.

That's what he _thought_, anyway. Why? "Why" was not the question--rather, "why not" was. She was absolutely gorgeous... The first time they met (they were what, seven?) he had declared that one day, he would win her heart.

Little did he know how hard that would be.

"Cold" would be the word to describe her. She was painfully blunt with her opinions and along with her outright rejections usually added some insult or other (this just wasn't fair--even her insults were impossibly graceful) and the possibility of him actually having any chance of having a romantic relationship with...with _anyone _was one in a million. Hisagi was told this by several people, but being prone to fantasies the way he was, he did not lose hope.

And it was beginning to get on some people's nerves.

-

Sunsun was not fond of Hisagi.

She found him to be a rather pathetic boy (and this was one of the only things she and Apache and Mila-Rose actually agreed with). In their earlier years he was the worst crybaby, breaking into tears at the slightest provocation. Now he was just a wannabe tough guy, a boy disguised as a man, who thought that a few scars (these were actually not from a street fight, as he claimed, but from something _notably _less impressive) and tattoos automatically made him "cool". Though in reality he was just another fool.

And Sunsun did not associate with things or people not worth her time.

--

Hisagi was flying.

He had just sent a card to Sunsun, painstakingly writing his feelings for her in dark green ink on pale green paper (she seemed to like the color green a lot, if the clothes she wore were any indication). He had taken great care to avoid gaudy, flashy, and generally fake-looking decorations (Sunsun was obviously not that kind of woman and probably looked down on those superficial things anyway).

Renji and Izuru had fervently warned against it, since Sunsun _already _had a low opinion of him and if she ever found that it was he who sent it (what, did you think Hisagi was man enough to sign his name?), hell would break loose. Apache and Mila-Rose were overly-protective of their sister, even if they _tried _to pretend not to be, and no one wanted to be on the wrong side of those two. But the three had been together since before they could remember, so naturally they were obliged to accompany Hisagi as he slipped the card beneath the Tia family's front door.

Hisagi, having finally confessed through a(n unsigned) letter, felt as if he was soaring through the heavens. But Renji and Izuru only shook their heads sympathetically, trying to tell him that the higher one flies, the harder one falls.

-

Sunsun was speechless.

She was outside, clutching a green envelope in her hands as the wind breathed snowflakes through her dark hair. She had meant to slip outside for a walk to escape the meaningless bickering of her sisters, but had discovered a thin envelope lying only a few inches in front of the main entrance, as if someone had pushed it through the crack between the door and the ground. Curious, she had picked it up and turned it to the other side, surprised to see her name written neatly in dark green ink. Who on earth would write to her? She was even more surprised when she opened the letter and saw a fairly simple, short message. Her eyes grew larger and larger as she read more and more of the green ink.

She was practically shell-shocked by the time she finished, when she realized it was a love letter.

The strange thing was, she didn't feel angry or annoyed in the slightest. Usually, this type of thing disgusted Sunsun, and while she would admit drama was mildly interesting in books, it was nothing but irritating in real life. A love letter definitely belonged in the "drama" category, but somehow...it didn't seem overdone, like it always appeared in the sappy movies that Sunsun watched with her cold green eyes practically dripping in disdain.

No, Sunsun wasn't angry.

But she _was _curious.

--

Hisagi was nervous.

Lately, it seemed as if someone was constantly staring at him, though whenever he turned around, there was no one looking his way. It felt as if that person's eyes were boring into the back of his head, searching for...something. Oh, he hadn't forgotten about the letter he had sent to Sunsun (how could he?), but there was no way she could have found out that it was him, right? In fact, who knew if she had even read it? Apache or Mila-Rose might have found it first, or perhaps Halibel had, and, being the protective mother figure she was, she might have thrown it out, away from Sunsun's eyes.

It seemed as if so many things could go wrong. Hisagi had fretted anxiously the entire week (when his floaty feeling had worn off, of course) after he delivered the letter.

What if, what if, what if?

-

Sunsun couldn't stop staring.

Shuuhei Hisagi, the boy who pretended to be a man, had been acting strange lately. Normally, she would have brushed it off as useless information, but ever since that green letter arrived at her door, she had been carefully examining the behavior of every male she knew. And Hisagi was definitely acting differently from what he did usually. Could it be...? He _had_ attempted to ask her for a "date" a couple of times before, but from what _she _knew of him, he didn't seem to be the type to do such a thing.

No, it couldn't be him.

Why had she even suspected it in the first place?

--

Abarai Renji was feeling very, very proud of himself.

He had spilled the beans.

Intentionally.

Oh boy, did that guy owe him one now.

---

Hisagi was a little surprised.

Love was the most recurrent genre that appeared in movies and books and other stories, but their depictions (or the ones he had seen, anyway) were all wrong.

Love wasn't sappy.

Love wasn't a fairy tale.

Love wasn't all about hearts and roses.

There were always going to be cracks in the hearts, thorns in the roses.

But, he supposed, you couldn't really disregard the half and still expect to be whole.

One day, he had asked her (just for fun) what her favorite animal was. She had smiled up at him--the smile not exactly the perfect, innocent, blank smile he had pictured in his daydreams so many years ago--and said that it was the snake. Hisagi blinked and replied with an "oh," looking down and returning the smile.

Maybe snakes weren't so bad after all.


End file.
